02 July 2017

A Muslim imam has resigned as a taxpayer-funded Australian Defence Force religious adviser after a senator told parliament he had signed a petition in favour of Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Sheikh Mohamadu Nawas Saleem quit his $717-a-day post last month, only days after Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi questioned how the government could justify employing someone who opposed democracy.

Former Iraq war veteran Bernard Gaynor, who launched a petition calling for Sheikh Saleem's removal as Defence imam, said the government was embarrassed.

'The government's been very quiet about the resignation,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday.

'They've been running politically correct games with in the Defence Force and they're embarrassed by the scrutiny.' [Daily Mail Australia] Read more